Doggy Paddle – Leamington – Stratford

River Guide

The Get-On here at Leamington is a recreation ground, a Well-Used Access area for Canoeists of this event for many years.
The access into the water is pretty straight forward, after parking and unloading, the edge of the field you are in is the access point, the get-on is a simple and there are usually many hands to aid in launching etc.

Once on and underway, you will be on the River Leam, although only for a few moments as the river short converges with The River Avon.

After a mile of paddling you will pass under the London, Oxford, Birmingham Chiltern Railways Train Bridge. Just under a half mile further, you will see Warwick Sea Scout Club, on your right hand side. This is a well established club with slipways and boathouse for their kit.

Another Half mile passes and you will have arrived at the Warwick Castle Weirs. Here you will have an amazing view of the Castle !
Warwick Castle, interestingly was originally wooden built in 1068 by William The Conqueror. It has naturally undergone several rebuilds over it’s life but most notably, a fire in 1871 devastated the Castle. The restoration was complete in 1875 and it stands relatively unchanged since. The fire itself was deliberate by the Butler who stole private belongings from the castle and started the fire to disguise the robbery !

You are now looking at The Weirs of Warwick Castle, The one nearest the Castle itself had a very important job. The Weir here has a water wheel mounted to the side of it. The wheel was originally used for grinding corn (installed circa 1398) Since then, this is a rough list of events… 
1644 – Pumping water into the castle for domestic use
1767 – Rebuilt in Stone to what you see today
1840 – New Waterwheel installed, which is present today
1849 – Water Pumping into the Castle stopped after they realised the sewers discharged back into the river, upstream of the Castle !

1880 – Fire Destroyed all but the stone structure and waterwheel,

1894 – Providing electricity to Light Bulbs within the Castle
1940 – Mains electricity was supplied to the Castle so the Engine house was redundant
2002 – 2 Million pound restoration project undertaken and visitors allowed into the engine house once more.
The Weirs here at Warwick Castle are not shot during this trip for several reason but mainly access permissions from the Castle itself. Everyone portages this weir at the same point and gets in just below the weir to continue the journey.

After the Weir Portage is complete you may catch a glimpse of the infamous 22 tonne Trebuchet – Believed to be the first ever recreated fully functioning Trebuchet in 1989. It can fire a 150KG projectile, some 300M and takes eight people to reload it. It has a world record of firing a 13KG object at 121MPH. Luckily for us, they will pause the demonstrations of the siege engine whilst Doggy Paddle passes through! 
2 Miles now passes whilst we meander our way to Sherbourne. The outskirts of which is denoted by the large M40 Motorway Bridge passing over the river. Perhaps not as grand as some of the other architecture you will have already seen at this stage and are yet to see during the rest of the trip.

Another half mile of paddling sees us arrive at Barford Weirs. We will be shooting or portaging the Right Hand Side Weir we then swing in and out of the reed beds as we approach Barford village and it’s beautiful sandstone 5 arch bridge.

Proceed now for circa 4.5 miles as we paddle through Wasperton and approach Hampton Lucy.

The Weir at Hampton Lucy is perhaps the highlight of the day for many. The weir itself is quite straightforward in its shape for shooting in most craft but coupled with the fact that this is the best place to have lunch and if the sun happens to be out. People try their hand at all sorts of weir shooting fun. We will stop here, have lunch, watch those who wish to shoot the weir and continue on our way thereafter ! Again this weir can be portaged and there are many hands to assist in the getting on and off the water.

Just under 2 miles from Hampton Lucy Weir you will see the amazing Charlecote House. It is worth noting that from Hampton Lucy Weir, until after we pass the second Deer Gates (Floating in river) we are not permitted to get out of our boats for snacks or lunch due to this being private property.

The House itself has been standing since 1558 and was owned, you may not be surprised to read (after the name of the previous village we pass through) by someone called Sir Thomas Lucy – He had twelve Children and had Queen Elizabeth the 1st Stay in residence with them. William Shakespear is said to have poached rabbits and deer in the grounds illegally in his youth and was set before ther magistrates court for this. The house & grounds (Designed by the famous Capability Brown) is now a National Trust Property and open to the paying public.

2.5 miles after Charlecote House brings us to the Village of Alvaston and Alvaston Weirs. Again we can portage here.

After Alvaston Weirs we circumnavigate the village counter-clockwise for around a mile where you may catch a glimpse of the Koi Carp Farm on the Righ Hand River Bank (Warwickshire Koi)

The final 2.5 miles sees us pass the start of built up Stratford as we pass through various holiday home sites, a historic bathing place (Thought to have been in use for over 100 years), lovely hotels until eventually you catch a glimpse of the beautiful Clopton Bridge. The bridge has stood since 1484, has 14 arches and stands on the site of an old ford. The bridge has only been restored twice, once from flooding in 1588 and once 1642 where one of the arches were deliberately blown up to stop Oliver Cromwell and his army! You may fin it interesting that our William Moir has been part of the team restoring the bridge and it’s pointing in 2023 as one of his work contracts !

Next we pass under the “Tramway Bridge” you;ve guessed it, a bridge used to carry the tracks of a horse-drawn tramway of the “Stratford & Moreton Tramway”, built in 1823. It has been a footpath since 1918 after the trackbed was lifted in 1908.

The end of our paddle is denoted by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the River Right Bank. We will be getting off using the River Left Bank by the Bandstand. Here we will be greeted by a Costume Guide Dog and certificates for our participation in the days events ! 

Well done, you have paddled 18 Miles and helped raise money for the Guide Dogs at the same time !